Sleepwalking Past Hope
by pheonixrenae
Summary: AU: Instead of falling from the Bifrost, Loki allows Odin to pull him up and runs away from Asgard. He finds himself on Earth and attempts to come to terms with his heritage. He finds someone who is able to understand his pain, but will he able to overcome his hatred towards himself and those that have wronged him? Eventual FrostIron.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own any of the Marvel characters._

_A/N: Hello all! This is my very first Loki fanfic and I'm very excited to write it. I've read too many Loki or FrostIron fanfics to count and really wanted to try my hand at writing again. I would greatly appreciate reviews, follows, and favorites if you enjoy it. :)_

_Without further ado, let's jump right in!_

"No, Loki..."

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><p>Never in the thousand years he's been alive would he ever have imagined that those two small words would shatter him more than anything in the world. Odin had rejected his attempt to prove himself worthy of the royal upbringing he had received. Just recently, he had learned that he was not the Asgardian Prince shadowed by his older brother as he thought himself to be. No, he was the monster-a Frost Giant…a Jotun-that all Asgardian children had nightmares about. How had his life come to this? How could they <em>all<em> lie to him for so long and expect him to still care for them?

_And they always dared to call me the liesmith_, he thought to himself, trying to contain his outward emotions as he followed Odin and Thor in silence back to the golden palace that he could no longer call his home.

They walked down the giant halls into the throne room. Loki and Thor came to a standstill in front of the gold throne just as the All-Father sat in it.

"What have you to say for your actions, Loki?" Odin sneered, anger showing through his normally indifferent mask, "You have created _chaos_ on Midgard and attempted to take the life of your own _brother_!" Loki looked up at Odin with a raised eyebrow and opened his mouth to speak, just as Thor cut in and spoke instead, not once turning to look at Loki.

"Father, although I am deeply upset with my brother over his actions, please do not punish him so severely. He has just discovered his heritage that even I knew not of. You have lied to him all of his life, Father, and he is hurting." Thor stated, moving to stand in between his father and him. After everything that Loki had done to Thor after he was banished to Midgard, he couldn't understand why Thor was still insistent on defending him. They were not brothers after all, and Thor was not obligated to protect him.

This thought made Loki tense up in a sudden overwhelming grief, but he continued to display his mask of indifference in front of his former father and brother.

"I am fine now. You need not defend me so, Thor."

Although the naked eye would not be able to recognize it, Loki saw quite a range of emotions flash upon his fa-Odin's face. Grief, regret, and sadness. As soon as they were shown, they disappeared and settled into a semi-sympathetic expression. "Loki, your brother is right. We have kept your true heritage from you all these years past. But we have done so to protect you. You are _still_ my son..." Odin trailed off as if in thought before his features became once again stern. "However, should you ever choose to repeat your actions and put anyone in danger, the consequences will not be so light again."

Loki felt anger rippling its way through his body at Odin's words, his magic deep within him attempting to settle near the surface. If Odin thought that some poor excuse of an apology will suddenly right his every wrong towards Loki, he was sorely mistaken. Loki tried to control his emotion, willing away the anger if only for the fact that he was only getting a metaphorical slap on the wrist for his actions against Thor. Deep down he had dreaded the consequences he surely thought would ensue in response to him trying to harm his "_brother_".

"Yes, _father_, I understand. May I return to my quarters now?" Loki inquired, not really interested in an answer as he turned away from Odin and Thor. Odin simply nodded and excused the brothers from his presence.

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><p>Once he entered his quarters in the palace, he slowly walked to his bed and let his body fall into it, resting his aching bones. He raised his hands to his raven hair and clenched into it, trying to process all of the information he had learned about his life (which had been all a lie), his true parentage, and the truth about himself. He still could not believe that he could truly be a Frost Giant aside from the fact that his skin changed when he had held onto the Cask of Ancient Winters. That was the moment his life changed forever. He was <em>truly<em> cursed.

He stood up from his bed and walked across his room to his mirror. Slowly, he closed his eyes and concentrated, thinking only of the deep blue that his body had been. A sudden chill fell over him, but this chill was different. It seemed to envelop not only his body, but his entire soul, in its coldness. He felt a hesitation, but nonetheless opened his eyes.

A monster. That's what he saw in the person standing before him in the mirror. Blue skin covered his entire body. Ridges of a deeper shade of blue protuded from all over his skin as well, more prominently on his forehead. His eyes were probably the most shocking change of all, however. No longer were his eyes the familiar shade of green that he loved and knew so well. These eyes were truly those of a monster; red all over with black irises. At this, he shut his eyes tight and felt a rush of anger, hatred, and hurt. How could they do this to him? Why did they lie?

He tried to calm himself to no avail and lashed his arms out, magic flowing through them. The objects in his room flew towards the walls and the mirror to his front shattered completely. He was now breathing shallowly and clutching to his hair once again, trying to control his emotions. His skin began to fade from the deep blue to his familiar pale ivory skin. He let out a few ragged, shaky breaths as he began to feel himself again.

_I can stay here no longer or I will lose what little of my sanity I am able to retain._

With that thought, he gathered a few of his personal effects and held them close to his person. He knew that he had to leave Asgard; he couldn't handle living with the lie any longer. Where could he go? The first place he could think of was Alfheim, where he was welcomed with open arms by the elves under normal circumstances.

_No, I couldn't possibly go there. I would still be too close to Odin's watchful eye._

He closed his eyes once again and concentrated on his teleportation spell. He knew where he must go now; somewhere that hardly any at all recognized him and he would be able to easily conceal himself from Heimdall, the all-seeing guardian of the nine realms.

At that, he let the magic flow through his being and disappeared from Asgard, reappearing in the one place where he wasn't known throughout the world for all of his mischief and trickery…Midgard.

_A/N: I hope everyone enjoys this first chapter. Please review, follow, and favorite. I will be posting the second chapter soon._


	2. Chapter 2

Times really had changed in the few centuries it had been since Loki was last in Midgard. They were still using a horse and carriage to travel long distances the last time he had chosen to travel here. Now they used mechanical vehicles that had brilliant lights that seemed as if they chase away the dark of night.

_This is not a holiday, so I will have to learn to be accustomed with their peculiar way of living._

He was in New York City. Not his first choice of location on Midgard, but it would do nonetheless. In fact, it might even better his chances of not being known. To his knowledge, this was across the country from where Thor had been banished, which was convenient. That would mean that his name wouldn't be as well-known as it most certainly would be in the place called New Mexico. Now, all he needed to worry about was finding a place to stay in such a vast city.

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><p>He casually walked through the city, looking for somewhere that caught his eye. Just because he had run away from Asgard did not mean that he was going to live as a meager peasant would. According to Odin, he was still a Prince of Asgard, and he would accept nothing but the best on Midgard.<p>

As he walked through the never-sleeping city, he couldn't help but inwardly grin at all the strange looks of curiosity that he was receiving from the throngs of mortals that he walked past. It had to be his choice of clothing-a jade colored Asgardian tunic and black leather pants-that left these mortals looking so bewildered. He was certain that Asgardian style was vastly different than that of the population of Midgard. He chuckled to himself; _how would these mortals react if they knew that there was a God in their presence?_ Not only a God, but a Prince of the realm of the Gods.

After a few hours of traversing the city, he managed to procure himself a lavish apartment down Broadway. Surely not the best living arrangements that Midgard could offer, but it would do nicely enough. Once inside his apartment, he went into the bedroom and set down his items that were brought with him from Asgard. He looked around his room and slightly sighed. He was still feeling quite beat down because of the events that occurred back on his home world, but he was going to do his best to get it out of his head. He decided that he needed to go out and do something because if he just sat in his apartment thinking about it, he was going to go mad and do something that would quite possibly cost him his freedom, or worse, his life. He would have to first venture out to purchase some appropriate clothing that would be suitable for his stay on Midgard.

He walked through the shopping districts, stopping at various stores to obtain clothing. The idea of purchasing clothing that was already sewn was something that was also very foreign to him. At first, he thought it would be hard to find clothing that would fit his frame just right, but he found that there were many different sizes and shapes of clothing and settled on purchasing clothing that fit him just snug enough to accentuate his muscles. This mortal world continued to mesmerize him at how they have surely advanced over the centuries.

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><p>It wasn't hard to find a party in this city, for that he was thankful. He ended up at some kind of technology festival called the Stark Expo. Not only would the distractions help him to get his mind off of what he would rather not think of, but there were so many pieces of Midgardian technology that piqued his interest. From the latest mechanical vehicles-which he found out were called cars-to different robotic-type machines. Midgard seemed to have advanced technologically so much since the last time he had visited here. It amazed him how these mortals adapted to and thrived from change in almost every aspect of their culture.<p>

He grabbed a flute of wine-Moscato-from a waiter that was passing by and took a large drink of it. Hmm, the alcoholic beverages that they have here in Midgard were not nearly as potent as the meads they had back in Asgard. Nonetheless, the wine was sweet and tasted very good, so he continued to sip on it as music started playing all around.

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><p>There were women dancing up on the stage to some heavy song that assaulted his ear drums. He had never heard this type of music before and was not very fond of it, although it did seem to vibrate through his body and let a warm feeling settle in to mix with the four flutes of Moscato that he had already consumed. He decided to walk up closer to the front of the area near the stage so he could get a close look at what was happening. He noticed that everyone was starting to peer up to the night sky, so he did the same. He could only see the stars—but wait, there was a line of light starting from far away and coming closer. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the trail was not a light, but fire burning from the feet of a mechanical man. He stood observing only that man as it flew directly above the stage and then fell to land on the stage with a loud bang. At first there was just silence and from one second to the next, he could hear the deafening roar of the crowd as they cheered and screamed for this mechanical man.<p>

The mask of the mechanical man lifted to reveal the face of a mortal man with facial hair and deep brown eyes. Loki found himself drawn closer to the stage to observe this man who exuded intelligence and strength. His suit opened up to let him out and stepped off to the side. The now formally dressed man raised his finger to his lips and a hush fell over the crowd. Impressive.

"Hello, New York! My name is Tony Stark, although I'm sure you've already heard of _me_. That's only half the reason you're here." Everyone cheered. "Welcome to the Stark Expo!" The man, Tony, smiled as he listened to the screaming and cheering of the people all around.

Tony went on to describe some of the history of the Stark Expo and of his father's legacy, Stark Industries. Loki watched the display with interest and only out of the corner of his eye noticed that Tony was not looking very happy viewing this video of his father. That piqued Loki's curiosity even more. For someone who talked so highly of his father, his eyes did not match the emotion of the words from his lips.

"Well, then, what are we waiting for? Let's get the entertainment started! Enjoy your night!" Tony stated as he walked off of the stage.

Loki found himself very intrigued by this man Tony. He waited as the crowd dispersed to find the man who had been up on the stage mere minutes ago. From the side of the stage, his eyes met with amber ones and he felt something bubble in the pit of his stomach, although he couldn't pinpoint just what it was. He began to walk towards the man so he could introduce himself.

Standing next to him was a bigger man who looked seemingly unimpressed, but wary of Loki. Surely Tony got quite a lot of unwarranted attention for him to require a larger man to protect him. Loki smirked at the bodyguard and turned to Tony.

"Hello, Mr. Stark." He said as he raised his hand for Tony to shake it. "You have done an amazing job of organizing this festival known as the Stark Expo."

"Hmm, why thank you…uhh…what's your name, gorgeous?" Tony grinned.

Loki found himself smirking at the brashness of Tony's words, "My name is Loki."

"Well then, Loki. Welcome to my expo. Is this your first time in New York? Oh, and call me Tony."

How could the mortal man possibly know that he hadn't been here before? "Yes, actually. I've moved here just today from far away. How-"

"You seem like you've never seen this much tech in your life judging by the look in your eyes to everything around you." Tony smirked mischievously. "We like to do everything _big_ and showy here in New York."

"Apparently so, Mr. Stark. Everything here _is_ quite wonderful though."

"Please, call me Tony. So what plans do you have for this evening, Loki?" Tony smiled, a glint of mishief once again in his eyes. This man was just getting all the more interesting.

"I'm not quite sure as of yet, _Tony_." Loki said as he let Tony's name roll off of his tongue smoothly. The name sounded seductive when Loki said it that way.

Tony leaned close to Loki's ear and huskily replied, "Well, if you wanna stick with me tonight, I can show you all the best New York has to offer."

Loki could feel Tony's breath on his neck as he pulled away and shivered slightly. It had been so long since he had felt anyone that close to him without them threatening him in some way. He welcome the feeling that he felt pooling in his stomach, but spoke with a hint of amusement in his voice, "I really should return home for the evening, Mr. Stark, as I am still getting settled in my new home. We can see the sights some other night though, if you'd still be _willing_ to show me." Tony seemed surprise at what Loki told him. Hmm, so he wasn't used to not getting what he wanted. That would make this so much more fun.

"Hmmm….I suppose so. Only because you seem interesting. Could I at least get a number where I could reach you?"

Loki looked at Tony in confusion, so Tony spoke up again first, "You do have a cell phone right?"

"Umm, no, I'm not sure what that—"

"—Wow you really _aren't _from around here. Just—here take mine." He said as he grabbed a little rectangular item out of his pocket and handed it to Loki, "It's called an iPhone. I'll call you to this and you'll be able to speak with me without us having to be face-to-face."

After Tony had shown Loki what the "cell phone" was and how to use it, he thanked Loki for an entertaining chat, and excused himself to meet with some of his colleagues, stating that he would be getting in touch with Loki the next day.

After the many glasses of wine that Loki had consumed, he was eager to get back to the apartment and let his body rest. He walked into a secluded place away from the crowds of people and teleported himself back to his apartment, not feeling like walking the way back. He appeared in the dark living room and sluggishly went to his bathroom that was connected to his bedroom. A shower would do him good to ease the tension that he still felt in his body. He opened the shower door and turned the water on as hot as he could stand. As he removed his formal shirt and jacket, he couldn't help but to think about that mortal, Tony, that had piqued his curiosity so much at the event. He was arrogant, self-centered, and cocky, but he also seemed exceptionally intelligent and strong, not to mention that he was definitely easy on the eyes. He could see in this man's eyes that there was a seemingly dark past hidden behind layers of masks and that intrigued him all the more.

His groin started to respond as he continued to think about the man. Of course, it could be the wine clouding his better judgment, but he hadn't allowed himself such selfish pleasures in so long, that he gave into the ache that his body began to feel. He unbuttoned his dress pants, slid the zipper down, and reached to grab his length and stroke it, slowing down every time he reached the tip and holding his hand there tightly before sliding back up to his base again. He paused in his ministrations only so he could pull down his black dress pants and step into the shower.

The scalding water hit his back and made his erection harden a little more. He always loved the little sting of pain that came from scalding hot water. He once again wrapped his hand around his length as he continued to think about the man who intrigued him and turned him on so much. He imagined Tony grabbing his erection and began to pump himself harder and faster, his breath coming out in short pants and gasps as he got closer to his climax. His hips started to move in sync with his hands, heightening his pleasure to the point of erupting. Gripping tighter and imagining those perfect lips on his length, he let out an animalistic growl as he was lost in the sensation of his climax. He pumped a few more times, finishing out his climax and was left panting under the hot water as he recollected himself.

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><p>After he was through with his shower, he wrapped a towel around his waist and walked into his bedroom. He slipped into some nightpants and let himself fall back into his pillow, only to have to sit up again as his iPhone that Tony had handed him earlier chimed.<p>

_"Hey, this is Tony. Had fun talking with you tonight."_

Loki replied to Tony's message with a smirk on his face, _"Thank you, Mr. Stark. I enjoyed myself as well." _ It was amusing that Tony texted him when he did; right after Loki had let his mind and body wander because of thoughts of this strange, yet interesting man.

_"Once again, call me Tony. Glad you enjoyed yourself. I was serious about showing you New York's finest. What do ya say?"_

He thought for a moment before replying,_ "I suppose that will be alright."_

_"Great. I'll be at your place at noon. What's your address?"_

Loki messaged Tony his address then bid him goodnight. He set the phone back on the nightstand by his bed and relaxed back into his pillow. He laid the covers across his hips and brought his arms up to rest behind his head, thinking about everything he'd done that day.

After all of the disappointment and hurt he had been through, he was surprised that he had actually enjoyed himself at the Stark Expo. Even more so, he was surprised that Tony Stark had intrigued him so much to the point of fantasizing over him.

At that thought, he fell into a restless sleep.

_A/N: So here's Chapter 2. I hope everyone enjoyed it and thank you for reviewing my first chapter. I look forward to your reviews, favorites, and follows. :)_


	3. Chapter 3

**"Am I cursed?" Loki asked, sensing Odin's presence behind him, as his skin transformed from the porcelain that he was familiar with into that deep shade of blue that it had started to turn into when the Frost Giant had grabbed his arm back in Jötunheimr. He gripped tighter onto the Casket of Ancient Winters as he awaited Odin's response.**

**"No." Odin hesitated, before replying.**

**"What am I?"**

**The silence lingered longer this time before being broken, "You're my son."**

**Loki could feel his heart racing now, knowing full well that Odin was hiding something from him. Something that would change his life forever. Everything...everything had been a lie. How could he have never seen it before? He had always just thought himself to be the lesser son of a King of Gods, always having to compete with his brother, Thor, in an attempt to earn his father's respect and affection. But this revelation in front of his eyes was telling him more than he'd ever thought possible as to why he was never good enough for Odin. **

**"What more than that?" He let go of the Casket and turned around to face Odin. His body tensed when that unfamiliar chill in his body began to fade away and the color of his skin and eyes began to flow back into the jade-colored eyes and porcelain-colored skin that he had known all his life. **

**"The Casket wasn't the only thing you took from Jötunheimr that day, was it?" he asked, feeling a sense of anger and pain welling up inside him. **

**Odin looked at Loki, making sure to wear his mask of indifference. Or maybe it wasn't a mask. He was not truly Odin's son after all, so why should Odin even attempt to show any emotion in his explanation? "No. In the aftermath of the battle, I went into the temple and I found a baby. Small...for a giant's offspring. Abandoned...suffering...left to die." He paused. "Laufey's son." Odin's voice had a strong, loud edge to it as he spoke, but underneath the surface of that kingly voice, there was a softness he was entirely unable to pay any mind to. Loki was too much seething with anger to let any other emotions enter his mind.**

**"**_**Laufey's**_** son?" Loki asked incredulously. Laufey was the King of the Jötnar, the ruler of all of Jötunheimr. And Loki was **_**Laufey's son?**_** This would mean that although Loki was not a Prince of Asgard, he was still a Prince in his birthright. The hidden Prince of Jötunheimr.**

**"Yes."**

**"Why? You were knee-deep in Jötunn blood. Why would you take me?"**

**"You were an innocent child." Odin responded as if it should have been obvious to anyone who been told of the situation.**

**"No..." Loki paused, contemplatively, "You took me for a purpose. What was it?" He looked to Odin's eyes for the answer to his question, but Odin simply returned a blank stare at him, seeming to ignore the question. The rage that was bubbling within Loki's very core finally erupted to the surface, loosing Loki momentarily of any rational sense of composure. **

**"TELL ME!" he screamed upwards towards Odin, all composure lost, and tears welling in his eyes, overflowing the rim, and falling down his ivory cheeks.**

**"I thought we could unite our kingdoms one day. Bring about an alliance. Bring about a permanent peace."**

**"Wha-?" Loki's anger was now gone, to be only left with utter confusion...and was that...sadness?**

_**A plan to unite Asgard and Jötunheimr?**_

**"But those plans no longer matter." Odin stated indifferently, seeming to ignore the look of bewilderment on Loki's visage.**

**Loki lost himself in thought again before speaking, "So I'm no more than another stolen **_**relic**_**? Locked up here until you might have use of me?"**

**Odin sighed, exasperated, "Why do you twist my words?"**

**"You could have told me what I was from the beginning. Why didn't you?"**

**"You're my son. I wanted only to protect you from the truth."**

**And now would come Odin's true reason for hiding Loki's heritage. Because he was what Odin had taught him to hate all of his life. "What? Because I-I-I'm the **_**monster**_** that parents tell their children about at night?!"**

**"No-" Odin started, attempting to reason with Loki, but was interrupted by his son's elevated voice.**

**"You know it all makes **_**sense**_** now why you favored Thor all these years no matter how much you claimed to love **_**me**_**, you could **_**never**_** have a Frost Giant sitting on the throne of Asgard!" **

**Although Odin was a King and gave off the constant illusion of his strength and vitality, his body was truly weakening as he was succumbing to the many years he had lived. His now fragile body could not handle the stress of the many emotions that were passing through him, as him and Loki argued over his true heritage and he collapsed quickly and heavily to the stairs beneath his feet, all consciousness gone. At this occurrence, Loki's mind was able to snap back to reality and realize just what had befallen his father at that moment. Loki was overwhelmed with a sense of grief and regret as he kneeled down by his father. He shakily reached toward Odin, afraid to touch him after the life changing words that had been said to him. Slowly and scaredly, he took Odin's hand in his and squeezed it tight as he let the sadness and shock a little closer to the surface. He yelled for the guards to come and help his father urgently as he thought about everything that had let up to that moment...**

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><p>Loki awoke with a start, sitting up in bed and bringing his knees to his chest. He rested his elbows on his knees and proceeded to let his head fall into the palms of his hands, his fingers clenching through his ebony locks and squeezing until he could feel the sting of his hair being pulled. Any kind of pain was welcome at this point to help distract him from the true agony of having his heart and mind ripped to shreds like they had been when his heritage was revealed. He'd had this same dream every single night since first learning of his heritage and the day his father fell into the Odin-sleep. Not one single night after he had become the rightful King of Asgard was he able to ever push aside those memories and just focus on doing the best he could as King until Odin awoke from his slumber. No, he had to constantly relive the lie in his mind until it drove him to being even more jealous of his brother, Thor. Thor, the golden-haired Æsir whom everyone in the realm of Asgard-and even in the mortal realm of Midgard-seemed to admire with such respect and adulation. Why should Thor-the self-focused, blood-lusting, fool that he was-be more deserving of the adoration of his subjects than Loki was. Yes, Loki was the God of Mischief, and therefore had many times where mischief seeped into many of the Æsir's lives, but in the end, did he not always give his very best effort in aiding the Æsir when they came to him with their troublings? That didn't matter anymore though. Surely, after what had since occurred between him and Thor during his temporary reign over Asgard, he would no longer be welcome there. Odin had said that Loki was still his son, but that would not change the opinions of those who adored Thor and despised Loki so. They would surely do whatever in their power they could to make certain that Loki's return there would be regrettable. No, he couldn't return. He would have to attempt to find a way to cope on Midgard, should he not want to act upon rash emotions and destroy the realm that he once called his home.<p>

He lifted his fingers from his hair and raised his head to peer out the window of his bedroom. It was still dark out, so he must have not slept very long, but he wouldn't be able to sleep now if he tried.

Loki sat on the living room floor against the glass of the full-length window, immersed in a book called Hamlet written by William Shakespeare. It told the tale of a young man by the name of Hamlet, whose father had passed away, leaving his uncle to claim the throne with his mother. Hamlet saw an apparition of his father appear to him, explaining that his uncle had murdered him and had taken Hamlet's mother as his wife and queen. This revelation drove Hamlet to madness. Loki could sympathize with Hamlet, not because he had experienced the same as the character had, but because he knew of how it felt to be betrayed by family and be driven to madness. After his dream the night before, he was attempting to hold onto the miniscule thread of sanity he had remaining.

It was growing ever more difficult to deal with the situation he was faced with. Odin hadn't let him prove his worthiness in the end, and why should he? He had only ever expected for Loki to take reign over Jötunheimr when Laufey was gone to unite the realms. He never once imagined that Loki could ever be the King of Asgard. That role would always be Thor's to play. But why would Odin even think for one moment that Loki would ever want to rule that frozen wasteland of a realm…

Just as his thoughts were beginning to consume him, his iPhone chimed, breaking the silence around him. He sighed as he got up from his position on the floor and walked into the bedroom to retrieve the phone from its place on the bedside table, unlocking it and reading the message sent to him.

_Hi Loki. I know I said I'd pick you up this evening, but I'm really bored since I finished my work hours ago. Wanna hang out already?_

Loki couldn't help but chuckle as he read the message. He hadn't even known this man for a full day yet and he was already very persistent. Maybe he shouldn't have gone out the night before after all, but it was too late for that now. Besides, Stark still intrigued him so much just in the way he acted and carried himself as if he was the Gods' gift to Midgard.

Loki replied to the message, _Hello, Stark. Seeing as how I've nothing to do today, I supposed that would be acceptable. I'll be waiting._

With that, Loki set the phone back down on the night stand and proceeded to get ready for his day that would be spent with Stark. He wasn't sure what type of clothing to wear so he settled on casual, but classy clothes, some black slacks and a deep jade-colored button down shirt that matched the color of his eyes. He had always been drawn to that color all of his life, just as his bro—Thor was drawn to red. He had to stop thinking of his life back on Asgard if he wanted to get through this day without it ending in chaos. Chaos is what he normally thrived on, but he didn't want it to get to such an extreme level of chaos while he still had an ounce of self-control in his body. He shook his head to rid himself of such thoughts—strands of his wavy black locks falling into his face—and walked back into the living room, sitting back on one of the lounge chairs and closing his eyes as he waited for Stark to arrive.

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><p><em>*Knock. Knock. Knock*<em>

Loki shot up in his chair, startled by the loud noise created on the other side of the door. He hadn't realized that he'd dozed off. Tony must have taken his time to pick up Loki, seeing as how the sun wasn't in the center of the sky anymore as it had been when Loki had finished getting himself dressed. A few hours give or take, he guessed. He raised off of the chair and strode to the front door, peering out the little glass that let him view who was outside of his home.

Tony stood there in deep blue jeans and a 'Black Sabbath' shirt, whatever that was. His hair was ruffled to give off the idea that he didn't care how he looked, when Loki knew better. It was the same way Loki normally presented himself. Just careless enough, while really having put much effort into it. He could tell by the way the "mess" of Stark's hair was just right. Chuckling inwardly, he opened the door and leaned on the doorframe, smirking at Stark.

"You're late, Stark." Loki's smirk grew wider.

"And you're overdressed." Stark smirked right back at him. By the Norns, this man had a comeback for everything.

"This is how I always dress. Is there something wrong with that?"

Stark's smirk grew into a full-blown smile, "No, not at all. Ready to go?" He held out his elbow for Loki to grab onto.

"Regardless of what you think, you're not that smooth Stark," Loki stated with a chuckle as he walked off in front of Stark, leading to the front of the building.

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><p>By the time evening came around, they had seen many of the sights in New York. Stark had really been telling the truth when he had stated he would show Loki all the best that New York has to offer. Of course, it had nothing on the golden buildings in Asgard, but it held a beauty all of its own. Asgard as a society, for being the "protectors" of the nine realms, had no technology that could be comparable to that of Midgard. In Asgard, they relied on barbaric traditions and magic. Here in Midgard, they had evolved out of their former traditions and did not practice magic either, so all they had to go on were their feats of technology. And in that, they surpassed Asgard by far.<p>

They were now just leisurely strolling through the city. Loki was in awe at the unique beauty of Midgard in the night. The sun had already gone down and the moonlight and building lights of the city were now taking over the horizon. It was such a different sight than he was accustomed to, but it felt…nice. Walking with this man he hardly knew in a place he didn't know seemed to comfort him and all thoughts of what had occurred back in Asgard were a distant memory. He felt comfortable in Stark's presence, which was odd, seeing as how he never let anyone close to him. But it seemed that Stark had somewhat similar problems with his father as Loki had had with his own, despite him being positive the circumstances were different. He caught himself observing the mortal that was walking just about two steps in front of him, having to hide his face under a baseball cap due to the hordes of fans that had seen him earlier in the day and bombarded him.

After a few more minutes, Stark finally broke the silence, "Hey, so I think I've shown you almost everything in the city there is to see for now. What do ya say we just pick up dinner and take it back to my place?"

"That would be acceptable, Stark, as long as you don't intend on seducing me like you hinted at the expo," Loki said with a devious chuckle.

"Well, I can't make any promises there. And why won't you call me Tony, for fucks sake?" Stark said with a small hint of annoyance in his voice, although Loki could tell by the smirk that he was actually quite amused by Loki's defiance.

"Tony is too soft a name for someone like you, Stark."

"Oh really now? And what makes you say that exactly?"

"You're a strong, stubborn individual that doesn't like to be told no or be rejected. You expect everyone to swoon at just a mere word….to kneel. Stark seems a name worthy of that personality. Not Tony."

Stark opened his mouth to say something and quickly shut it. He then drew a devious smirk onto his face as his amber eyes met Loki's jade, "Well, when you put it that way. So what do you say, _Loki_, do you wanna kneel for me?"

Loki surprised himself at the laugh that suddenly bubbled up out of him. After regaining his composure, he turned back to face Stark and said, "You're the epitome of class, aren't you, Stark? You'll have to work much _harder_ than that should you want to get _me_ in your bed." Loki began to walk off as Stark just stood there, a look of shock on his face.

"Come now, Stark. Were you not going to get food or are you going to stand there dumbstruck all night?"

Stark still looked completely shocked at Loki's sass, but followed him nonetheless…

_A/N: I apologize that it took me so long to get Chapter 3 to you all. This one may be a little bit of a filler chapter, but it will get better I promise. Favorites, follows, and reviews are greatly appreciated! Have an amazing one, loves. :)_


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